One of the internet’s most-followed investors — the leader of the “meme stock” movement — revealed on Monday that he had bought up shares of the online pet retailer Chewy.
The company’s stock price rose more than 11% in early Monday trading after Keith Gill, known online by his handle “Roaring Kitty,” revealed he had taken a significant stake in the company.
Gill had foreshadowed the Chewy holdings in a post on X last week that was simply a dog emoji.
Chewy shares — as well as other stocks that are either in the pet trade — rallied immediately after the post Thursday.
On Monday, an SEC filing showed Gill had purchased shares worth approximately $245 million, or about 6.6% of the entire company at Friday’s closing price. Gill also mocked up his own version of the standard SEC 13G filing form by adding a section stating he was “not a cat.”
Gill shot to fame in 2021 after becoming the de facto leader of an online-populist movement to purchase stocks of legacy brick-and-mortar companies like GameStop, AMC and Bed Bath and Beyond, with the stated goal of attempting to turn the companies around. It didn’t quite work — although the movement did successfully create losses for investors who were actively betting against the companies.
But his trading has also been the subject of scrutiny.
Gill now faces a new class-action lawsuit filed in Brooklyn alleging that his most recent trades in GameStop shares amounted to a “pump and dump” scheme.
The plaintiff, Martin Radev, a Nevada resident, representing a class of other GameStop investors, alleges Gill knowingly used his large and influential platform to “pump” up the stock price of the company this year by posting online while failing to reveal he had taken up a new position in the company. Gill then successfully sold his shares for a profit, the lawsuit alleges.
The price of GameStop shares remains higher than before Gill’s post but has declined from its peak by about 50%.
They were down 7% in pre-market trading on Monday.
The secretary of state of Massachusetts, where Gill resides, is also investigating the GameStop trade.
Gill did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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